Key Design Characteristics for Developing Usable E-Commerce Websites in the Arab World

Abstract This research aims to suggest key design characteristics that are necessary for developing usable e-commerce websites in the Arab world. A comprehensive usability evaluation of four leading Arab e-commerce websites was conducted using the heuristic evaluation method. The results identified major and minor usability problems and major and minor good design characteristics on the selected websites. Based on the results, 51 key design characteristics were suggested. The recommended key design characteristics comprised two levels according to their priority: level one which includes mandatory key design characteristics and level two which includes supplementary design characteristics. The key design characteristics in each level were categorized under specific pages and areas that can be found on any e-commerce website. Such categorizations could direct website evaluators and designers to important pages and areas that should be considered to improve the overall usability of e-commerce websites. The results of this research are particularly important to developing countries which are still facing challenges that may affect the design and accessibility of usable and useful websites. These relate to low speed of accessing the Internet and a lack of website designers who have experience in customers' needs and websites' usable design characteristics. Keywords: key design characteristics, usability, e-commerce websites, Arab world, heuristic evaluation, informing Introduction E-commerce is the process of buying, selling, or exchanging products and/or services and/or information via the Internet (Turban, King, Lee, Warkentin, & Chung, 2002). E-commerce provides many advantages to business organisations, which include extending the marketplace of a business into national and international markets, allowing the customization of products and services according to customers' requirements, enabling companies to interact more closely with their customers, and reducing the cost (Hasan, 2009; Muhtaseb, Lakiotaki, & Matsatsinis, 2012; Tassabehji, 2003; Turban et al., 2002). The e-commerce context can also be viewed from an informing science perspective as explained in Cohen (1999), Cohen (2009), and Gill (2008). Their work elaborates that an informing science framework consists of the informer, the delivery system, and the client (who may be also viewed as the end-user or stakeholder). Looking at the relationship among these three distinct informing science components, we can identify the following: (1) The e-commerce vendors (referred to as informer) communicate with the customers (also may be referred to as the clients) who consume the vendor's product or service; and (2) The informer's functions are achieved via a delivery mechanism of system made of the website infrastructure, its user interface, and the communication mechanism (which in the e-commerce case is the internet). Arab countries are still facing barriers (explained by the informing science framework, Smith & Spiers, 2009) which affect the development and diffusion of e-commerce in these countries, such as regional instability, lack of clear regulations, payment barriers (i.e., reliance on cash instead of debit or credit cards), cultural barriers, and delivery, economic, and security barriers (Hasan, 2009; Shuqum, 2015). Fortunately, and despite the barriers that the Arab countries face regarding e-commerce, they have realized the advantages of e-commerce. Companies in the Arab world have already developed e-commerce sites, and they are already involved in e-commerce as sellers or buyers. Furthermore, recent studies showed that e-commerce in the Arab countries is growing fast (Shuqum, 2015). According to a recent study described in Shuqum (2015), e-commerce in the Arab countries was worth $14 billion in 2014, and it is expected to total more than $20 billion by 2020. As the e-commerce market is growing rapidly in the Arab countries, it is now the responsibility of e-commerce companies to consider factors which make their e-commerce websites successful and profitable. …